


A New Family

by captainamergirl



Category: The Young and the Restless
Genre: F/M, Historical AU, Sean Patrick Flanery is bae, crack ship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-10-18 21:18:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17588600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/captainamergirl
Summary: The year is 1855...First her husband presented her with a little boy he admitted was his by an affair. Then Billy Abbott disappeared altogether mere weeks later, leaving only a note behind. Victoria (Newman) Abbott tries to move on and deal with raising a little boy who is not her own. She has a little help though in the form of new farmhand Sam Gibson. They begin to bond and fall in love, but what would happen if her wayward husband were to return?





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**  
  
_Do not let them see you cry. Do not let them see you cry._  
  
It was like a chant playing over and over again in her head as she moved hurriedly through the street. She had just had a none-too-pleasant encounter with Katherine “Chloe” Valentine and Phyllis Summers who had been mocking her about her husband Billy bringing home a “bastard” child just weeks ago. It was just the latest gossip floating around the township about her. If it was bad now, she couldn’t imagine how awful it would get when they figured out she had been deserted by Billy too. She could see the taunting looks on their faces already and they made her feel physically ill.  
  
Just two days before, Billy had left a note for her and then slipped out of her life, presumably forever. The words in his letter formed in her mind then for she had read it so many times in disbelief that she had inadvertently memorized it.  
  
_Victoria,_  
  
_I am a louse. I know that I am. I don’t deserve you or your love. I am leaving Genoa City because I can’t deal with all of the expectations of me anymore. Please don’t try to follow me. I think it is best if we both have our freedom now._  
  
_All my best wishes for you,_  
 _Billy_  
  
She told herself once again not to cry as she searched the bustling street for her younger brother Nicholas. He had brought her to town so she could buy a few items at Fenmore’s while he had gone to see a man about buying one of his horses. The Newman family horse-trading business was afloat even if Victoria’s mood was not.  
  
She finally spotted Nicholas emerging from the hotel. She hurried over to him and he must have seen something in her eyes because he immediately asked, “What is wrong?”  
  
“It’s nothing.”  
  
“Nothing?”  
  
“Nothing that I want to talk about. Let’s just say I had a rather unpleasant run-in with some squawking hens.”  
  
Nicholas seemed to know what she meant. As he led her to his wagon, he looked at her sympathetically. She almost resented it. “You have to ignore the gossips in town,” he said. “They will have a new prey by tomorrow.”  
  
Victoria nodded even as she doubted it very much. She tossed the items she had purchased into the back of the wagon and said nothing as her brother helped her up onto the seat and hopped up beside her, grabbing the reins. He snapped them against the hides of his two prized Arabian horses and they took off.  
  
Nicholas looked over at her several times seeming to be trying to decide what to say to her. Finally she grew tired of his constipated looks and asked, “What is it, dear brother?”  
  
“I think you should come back to the family homestead,” Nicholas said. “You need support in a time such as this and it’s not right that you should be alone with that rascal husband of yours gone.”  
  
Victoria sighed. She knew it would come up eventually but she wasn’t ready to go back to her father and admit that a marriage he had never wanted for her had fallen through. At this juncture, no one but Nicholas and the nursemaid Sharon Collins knew Billy was gone. She wondered how long she could keep it a secret from everyone else.  
  
“Nicholas, I can’t come home.”  
  
“Of course you can, Victoria. That’s just it – it’s your home. You belong there, not out near the woods in a deserted area. It’s not safe nor acceptable.”  
  
“Acceptable to whom?” Victoria asked.  
  
“Me, for one. Two women and a little boy can hardly defend themselves from nefarious people who may come into your homestead wishing you harm.”  
  
“I can take care of us just fine,” Victoria said almost petulantly. “If I go back to Father’s … Well, I will never hear the end of it from him that my husband chose to leave me. He will go on and on about how he knew Billy would only ‘ruin’ me.”  
  
“Well that’s just what Billy has done.”  
  
“Oh thank you, Nicholas, thank you very much for saying I am ‘ruined’.”  
  
“I can’t coat the truth with a teaspoon of sugar, Victoria. As much as I would like to, I can’t. That ass leaving … He leaves you in a very precarious situation in more ways than just one.”  
  
“I know. Don’t you think I know that?” she said, feeling her throat constrict painfully. “But he did leave me and I’ve got to face it sometime, somehow. Unless I decide to hide out for a long while at my homestead until people forget all about Billy and his son.”  
  
Nicholas looked at as if he knew that were very unlikely but he simply said, “I still can’t believe Billy saddled you with his child by another woman.”  
  
Victoria cringed and once again reminded herself not to cry. Though she knew Nicholas would never begrudge her an emotional display, she didn’t want to cry in front of anyone. She didn’t want to show how broken she felt about it all. “I know,” was all she could say. In truth, Johnny was a good little boy and very sweet and thoughtful but Victoria was having a very hard time looking at him and not seeing his father’s betrayal. She had wanted to give Billy children so desperately and she never had been able to. Perhaps it was better that way so they wouldn’t be fatherless too, like Johnny…  
  
Nicholas just shook his head. “Please come home with me. I will play buffer between you and Father if that’s what you need. I don’t feel at all comfortable with you living all the way outside the town’s limits.”  
  
“We will be fine,” Victoria declared though she wasn’t sure she believed it. Not at all, in fact.  
  
“Victoria –“  
  
“That is the end of this discussion, Nick,” she said firmly. “However, I will try to come over tomorrow afternoon and break the news to Father about Billy leaving me. He is not going to be happy, I don’t think. Or maybe he will be considering he despised my husband.” Husband, she thought bitterly. She was no one’s wife now but in the eyes of the law. It would have been better though and far more “acceptable” if she was a widow. She didn’t know how she would endure the shame of this but she had no choice. It was the unenviable position Billy had left her in. He was right about one thing – he truly was a louse, per his own words in that dreaded letter.  
  
Nicholas sighed and nodded as he halted the horses and brought the wagon to a stop in front of Victoria’s homestead. He climbed down and reached for Victoria, setting her down on the ground. “Would you like to come inside?” Victoria asked her brother.  
  
“I have a bit of time so why not?” Nicholas asked. Victoria arched an eyebrow at him. She knew he was sweet on Johnny’s beautiful blonde nursemaid though to Victoria’s surprise, the notorious womanizer had made no move on Sharon …. Thus far.  
  
Nicholas pretended not to see her knowing look. They moved up onto the front porch and Victoria and Nicholas walked inside. They had gone no further than the front parlor when little five-year-old Johnny came hurtling into the room. He called out “Mama!” to Victoria, something Billy had instructed him to do. Something that made Victoria’s skin tingle and not in a pleasant way.  
  
Johnny wrapped his arms around Victoria’s lean legs and she sighed. “What is it, Johnny? Where’s Miss Collins?”  
  
“Upstairs,” Johnny said. “She fell. I think she’s dead!”  
  
Nicholas looked at Victoria for a moment, said “Stay here”, and then ran for the staircase, taking it two at a time to get to the nursemaid.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**  
  
Johnny clung to Victoria and she told herself she had to keep letting him do so. He looked so much like his father around the nose and eyes in that moment but she couldn’t help but wonder where he got the shock of blonde hair and his high cheekbones. It likely was his mother shining through, an unknown woman, who felt like an intruder in her life. Billy had never even said who she was - only that she could no longer raise Johnny and Victoria and Billy needed to. If only. Billy had skirted his responsibilities too, leaving them to Victoria who felt inept to handle a child that wasn’t hers. She tried so hard not to blame the little boy for how he came to be but it was hard some days, really hard.  
  
She looked down at him. “What happened, Johnny?”  
  
“Sharon fell,” Johnny said through miserable tears. “We were playing, she was chasing me … She fell.” He buried his little face in Victoria’s skirts.  
  
She sighed. “I am sure she will be fine.”  
  
“She will be,” Nicholas said as he came down the stairs with Sharon in her arms. She was awake and looking at him very appreciatively. She had a noticeable purpling bump on her head but looked not too shabby otherwise.  
  
“You’re alive!” Johnny cried happily. “I thought I killed you.”  
  
Sharon ripped her eyes from Nicholas’s as he set her on the sofa. She grasped the little boy’s hand and kissed the back of it. “It’s alright, Johnny, I’m fine. I just tripped and fell over the rug in your room. I hit my head on the dresser.”  
  
“Is it my fault?” Johnny asked eyes still watery.  
  
Sharon kissed his cheek. “No, of course not. Don’t even think that.”  
  
Victoria almost envied Sharon her closeness with Johnny, something she was certain she would never have with the little boy. Try as hard as she might, she couldn’t feel any emotion for him though other than possibly pity that he had been shafted by his own parents the way he had been. It was too hard to look at him sometimes and when he called her “Mama”, she never knew how to respond.  
  
Johnny hugged Sharon and she smiled at the little boy. “Do you need medicine?” Johnny asked.  
  
“No, I don’t. I will heal quickly I’m sure.”  
  
“You do need a cold compress,” Nicholas said. “Victoria and I will go get you one.”  
  
Sharon arched a curious eyebrow at them as Nicholas pulled Victoria into the kitchen. “It doesn’t take two people to gather water from the pump and soak a cloth,” Victoria said. “What is this really about?”  
  
“Remember how I said something bad could happen with you three living out here in no-man’s-land?”  
  
“Surely you won’t blame this on me!”  
  
“No, but you need to come back to Father’s homestead. This is proof that women can’t –“  
  
“Take care of themselves?” Victoria waved her hand dismissively. “Are you insane? This could easily happen at the homestead too. There are plenty of rugs there.”  
  
“Victoria, stop being a stubborn mule,” Nicholas said. “Come home where we can all look after you.”  
  
Victoria shook her head adamantly. “You know what would happen if I did go back to Father’s? He would take every opportunity he could to belittle my marriage –“  
  
“Victoria, there is no more marriage. Billy left you.”  
  
Tears burned the back of Victoria’s eyes but she held them back, just as before. “Do you honestly think I can forget that? Or the fact that he left a child in my care that I have no desire to raise? He betrayed me again and again. Do you really think I can ever forget that? I am for all intents and purpose a shamed woman. I will be known as the one who drove Billy away; I will be the one no one will ever consider even looking at twice because of what Billy did. No, Nicholas, you do NOT need to remind me!” Her throat ached when she finally finished speaking and she turned away from her brother. He tried reaching for her but she shooed him away.  
  
“Victoria, let me at least be there for you. Maybe I can move in here.”  
  
“You’d have to get up much earlier than dawn to be at the farm in time for your duties. It’s nearly two miles away. I know you won’t give up the horse-trading business to hold my hand either. And though this is a house of shame now, I still have some decency and propriety dictates that you cannot live under the same roof as an unmarried woman and that’s what Sharon is, need I remind YOU. We don’t need to provide any more gossip for the squawking hens to munch on.”  
  
“Victoria, I worry about you. I really do.”  
  
Victoria sighed and rubbed her forehead where an ache was building up right behind her eyes. “I know you do, Nicholas, but we will all be fine. I promise you that… Now let’s get Sharon that cold compress before she thinks we walked out on her.”  
  
Nicholas nodded as she passed him a wash towel. They then walked out to the water pump along the side of the house and she pumped it as he held the cloth underneath the spray. It came away soaking wet and Nicholas wrung it in his strong hands before they both headed back into the house. Victoria saw Johnny curled up in Sharon’s arms and looked away for a moment.  
  
Nicholas meanwhile insisted on holding the compress to Sharon’s forehead. She just smiled up at him.  
  
Victoria cleared her throat. “Sharon, can I make you some warm broth to eat?”  
  
“That’s my function here,” Sharon said, starting to get up but Nicholas lightly held her back.  
  
“Today you are relieved from all of that,” Victoria said. “I will take care of the household duties and … Tend to Johnny,” she added quietly.  
  
Sharon shook her head. “You don’t have to do that.”  
  
“I insist,” Victoria said for when she put her mind to something she did it.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
The rest of the day passed slowly. Eventually the night came and Victoria gave Johnny a thorough scrubbing before tucking him into bed. He slept in Sharon’s room and she was already fast asleep when Victoria managed to get Johnny in there. He whispered to her, “Night, Mama,” and she just nodded to him before blowing out all the candles.  
  
Darkness descended over the room and she shut the door before moving down the hall. Fatigue and emotional exhaustion weighed her down as she plodded to her room, the room she used to share with her husband. But he was gone now and she had to accept it.  
  
She quickly blew out the candles on the dresser, slumped onto the bed and sunk into a deep, dreamless sleep.  
  
She was awakened at dawn by the sound of knocking on the door. She lifted her head off the downy pillow groggily and blinked as sunshine assaulted her still-tired eyes. “What is it?” She asked around a mouthful of what tasted like cotton.  
  
“Mrs. Abbott, there’s a man at the door asking for you,” came Sharon’s voice floating through the door.  
  
“Who is it?”  
  
“He said his name is Sam Gibson. Does that name mean anything to you?”  
  
“No,” Victoria said. “Send him away please.”  
  
“I can’t. He is insisting on seeing you, saying that your brother Nicholas sent him.”  
  
Victoria groaned loudly. She could only imagine what this was about. “I’ll be right down,” she said finally and crawled out of bed, lethargy dogging her every step. She changed into a fresh brown and cream-colored shirtwaist, fixed her hair into a knot atop her head and rinsed her mouth in the washing bowl on her table before she went downstairs.  
  
She cautiously opened the door to see a man standing there. He was muscular and his skin was a light brown from obviously spending many days in the sun. What caught her though was the indescribable color of his eyes. They were hooded with long, thick black lashes. Still, she couldn’t figure out why he was here and looking so earnest with his hat in his hand.  
  
“Steve, is it?” She asked.  
  
He smiled a bit. “Actually its Samuel. But friends call me Sam.”  
  
  
“Alright, Samuel,” she said, purposefully using his full name to show she had no intention of being his friend. “What brings you here this morning?”  
  
“Your brother Nicholas sent me. He says you are needing a new farmhand.”  
  
Victoria rolled her eyes. “Oh do I? How nice of Nicholas to say that. But we’re doing just fine without any help, thank you.”  
  
“Someone’s got to milk the cows and breed the hogs,” Sam said. “I know you have a small farm but you don’t want it to fall into disrepair.”  
  
“We’re doing just fine,” Victoria said. “Thank you but you can go.”  
  
She started to close the door in his face when she heard a scream behind her. She whipped around to see Sharon come hurtling down the last five steps on the staircase. She hit the floor and was passed out. All Victoria could do was mutter, “Oh, please. Not again.”  
  
She moved to Sharon’s side and tried to rouse her but Sharon continued to lay prostrate on the wooden floor. Victoria heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Sam approaching. He immediately dropped to his knees beside Sharon and felt for a pulse on her wrist. “She’s breathing,” Sam said. “Let me move her to the sofa and you can get –“  
  
“A cold compress?”  
  
“Smelling salts,” Sam said. _“And_ a cold compress.”  
  
Victoria resented this strange man’s intrusion but had no choice but to heed his words. She ran for the box of smelling salts high up on the bookshelf and brought them down. She moved back to Sam and passed him the glass vial. She then watched him take off the lid and wave it under Sharon’s nose. The woman was immediately coming to and looking at Sam strangely.  
  
“Hello,” Sam said in a low voice. “You gave us quiet a scare there. How do you feel right now?”  
  
Sharon stretched out and then winced noticeably, a little gasp escaping her lips. “Like my ankle is broken,” she finally said.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**  
  
Victoria couldn’t help but roll her eyes at Sharon’s pronouncement. A broken ankle? She would be of little use to Victoria now. The duties of raising Johnny would fall to Victoria until she could find a replacement. The thought made her far less happy than it should. Johnny needed Victoria but the dilemma was that every time she looked at him, she saw his unknown mother and his betraying, deserting father in his eyes. She was having so many troubles and now Sharon was possibly no longer of any help to her.  
  
“Is it really broken?” Victoria asked. “It could be a little sore but actually broken?” How she hoped it was not. No matter what she had told her brother, she didn’t think she could manage this homestead all by her lonesome.  
  
Sam felt Sharon’s ankle and Sharon winced. “It is indeed broken,” Sam affirmed and Victoria looked at him crossly. This was not his business.  
  
Sam’s eyes held hers firmly though until she looked away. “I am going to need to set it,” Sam said. He had been here all of three minutes and already he was trying to run things. How Victoria resented it.  
  
“You’re not a doctor,” Sharon piped up. “Are you?”  
  
Sam shook his head. “No I’m not but I can fix you up quickly. It will be painful but worth it. I can even fashion a brace for it.”  
  
Victoria sighed. She didn’t trust this man but she had no choice at the moment. “Fine, fix her up,” Victoria said. “Just do it quickly please and then you can leave.”  
  
Sam looked ready to reply but just sighed and turned back to face Sharon who was smiling nervously. “This will hurt but it will go quickly if you stay still,” he said. Sharon nodded.  
  
Sam looked ready to begin the act of resetting Sharon’s ankle but just then Johnny came running down the steps. He took one look at the pensive expressions on everyone’s faces and his bottom lip began to tremble. “What’s wrong, Miss Collins?”  
  
Sharon offered him as bright of a smile as she could manage. “It’s nothing, Johnny. Just had a little fall again.”  
  
Johnny’s lip still trembled and his eyes moistened. “Are you going to die, Miss?”  
  
“Absolutely not,” Sharon said. “This man is going to fix me right up.”  
  
Johnny studied Sam uncertainly. Sam smiled at him. “You know how you can help Miss Collins?”  
  
“How?” Johnny asked.  
  
“You can find me two small pieces of wood and some old fabric. I will use them to help heal Miss Collins’s hurt ankle.”  
  
Johnny’s eyes dried almost immediately. “I will do it!” he said. He looked at Victoria. “Mama, can you come with me?”  
  
Victoria nodded. “Yes,” she said with a soft sigh. “Let’s go fetch them now.”  
  
Johnny tucked his hand into Victoria’s and she willed herself not to let it go. Then together they walked out of the homestead in search of supplies.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Sam looked deeply into Sharon’s azure eyes. “I can fetch a strap for you to bite down on if that would help.”  
  
Sharon shook her head. “No, it’s fine. Just please, do it quickly.”  
  
Sam nodded and offered her a small smile. “Here we go,” he said. He grasped her ankle as gently as he could but she still winced. As he set it, it was all she could do not to pass out from the pain of it. Tears streamed down her face and she cried out.  
  
Finally the pain seemed to subside a bit and she looked at Sam hopefully. “Is it done?”  
  
“Yes,” he said. “I will put it in a brace and then you will need to stay off it for two to three fortnights.”  
  
Sharon moved awkwardly on the sofa. “Oh, I can’t do that, Sir-“  
  
“Sam,” he said.” ‘Sir’ was my father.”  
  
Sharon sighed and splayed her hands. “I simply can’t do that, Sam. I am the nursemaid here. Little Johnny depends on me for his care in every way. If I’m no help to Mrs. Abbott, she will have to turn me out. I have nowhere to go. So I’ll work; I’ll –“ She tried pulling herself determinedly off the sofa but quickly tumbled back. “Oh it’s no use. I am no use!” Bitter tears ran down her alabaster cheeks.  
  
“Please don’t say that,” Sam admonished her. “No one is of no use. Everyone has a purpose.”  
  
“Do you believe that? Truly?”  
  
“I do.”  
  
“But if Mrs. Abbott turns me out, what will become of my charge Johnny? I adore him ever so much and he could not be truly happy with Mrs. Abbott, I don’t think. I can see that she considers him a burden and a reminder of what her husband did.”  
  
“Ahem!” Victoria’s voice floated up from the doorway.  
  
Sam and Sharon turned to look at Victoria and Johnny standing there. Each had a wood piece in their hands as well as stiches of fabric. Victoria’s lovely face was creased in obvious distaste.  
  
“Mrs. Abbott –“ Sharon started  
  
Victoria held up a hand. “Let’s just get this done,” she said crisply. She then took the board from Johnny and passed it to Sam along with the things she had gathered up.  
  
Johnny watched in fascination as Sam made quick work of binding Sharon’s ankle. He held Sharon’s hand the whole time and she smiled at him sweetly. She adored the little boy. Victoria, meanwhile, in Sam’s estimation, looked terrified of Johnny almost, as if he were a coiled snake ready to strike out, rather than a sweet, cherubic child.  
  
Sharon leaned over and kissed Johnny’s soft forehead. “Thanks for your help, sweet John.” She looked at Sam then. “Thanks to you as well, Sir – I mean, Sam.”  
  
Sam nodded. “You’re welcome... Have you had fainting spells before?”  
  
“Yes and more frequently of late.”  
  
“Menier’s disease,” Sam mused. Sharon looked alarmed. “Don’t be afraid. It’s a lot more nefarious sounding than it actually is. It’s but an inner-ear problem… I recommend seeing a doctor as soon as possible. He will likely burn a beeswax candle into your ear and that just might help your problem.”  
  
“Is it contagious?” Sharon asked. “Can Johnny –“  
  
Sam shook his head. “No, no he cannot.”  
  
“Oh good.” Sharon sighed with relief. “Because that’s a frightening thought, especially considering how much he runs around the farm.”  
  
Sam just nodded and turned to look at Victoria who’s lips were pressed tightly together in a bloodless line. To say that she didn’t want him here appeared to be an understatement of great proportions. But he had promised Nicholas he would help out here and Sam kept his word. Now, because he knew better than not to.  
  
“Should I go check on the cows? Its about milking time.”  
  
Victoria shook her head. “I can manage it,” she said. “Now please go.”  
  
“Mrs. Abbott-“  
  
“Samuel?”  
  
“With Miss Collins here laid up for at least two fortnights, you are going to need an extra pair of hands.”  
  
“I can handle it just fine,” Victoria said and he could see that despite her resolute words, there were doubts clouding her crystalline eyes. “Please leave.”  
  
Sam nodded and grabbed his hat. He looked back at Sharon and Johnny, waving to them. “Good evening.”  
  
He then walked out the door. He would leave the homestead but not the property. Nicholas was depending on him to take care of this place and that’s just what Sam intended to do.


End file.
